What next for Terence Crawford?

THE ease with which Terence Crawford stopped Julius Indongo to become undisputed super-lightweight champion will make him a betting favourite over almost all other fighters in and around his weight class.

He has officially cleaned up at 140lbs, and there are some tantalising options for the unbeaten Omaha switch-hitter. If he stays where he is, the only big option for him is Mikey Garcia, who had his first fight at super-lightweight earlier this year when he dominated Adrien Broner.

Garcia is open to sticking at 140 or dropping back down to lightweight, where he holds the WBC title. A fight with Crawford at super-lightweight would be brilliant – both are rated highly in our pound-for-pound rankings.

However, as Garcia is aligned with Al Haymon and Showtime, it may be difficult to make an agreement with Crawford, who is promoted by Top Rank and whose win over Indongo aired on ESPN in the US.

Then, there is Manny Pacquiao. Crawford has been strongly linked with his promotional stablemate since the Filipino icon announced his return to boxing after briefly retiring in 2016. So far, the fight has failed to come to fruition and hopes of it ever happening were almost completely extinguished when Pacquiao lost to Jeff Horn in Australia.

However, the reported plan is for Manny to once again travel Down Under and attempt to exact revenge over Horn, who now holds the WBO welterweight title. There is talk of Crawford attending that fight in a bid to further drum up interest of him facing the winner.

Indeed, a move to welterweight could be his next step. He has conquered the lightweight and super-lightweight divisions, and so a move north makes a lot of sense. There could also be a lot of money made at 147lbs, particularly given the plethora of talented Americans currently operating there.

Keith Thurman holds the WBC and WBA titles while Errol Spence is the IBF king. Either fight for Crawford would be huge but, again, both are Showtime/Haymon fighters.

Whatever happens, it’s important Crawford remains busy. He’s been one of the most active elite level fighters in recent years and if he keeps that up, he could become one of the biggest names in the sport.